Русский

Россия

Казахстан

Армения

Азербайджан

Грузия

Киргизия

Таджикистан

Крым

Евразия

How to Listen

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty broadcasts in 28 languages. Most of our programs are available on FM and medium-wave frequencies of local radio stations in the countries of our broadcast area. If you are having problems listening to programs on the internet, please read our technical help document.

Andropov's Ghost

In June 1999, Vladimir Putin laid a bouquet of flowers on Yury Andropov's grave to mark the 85th anniversary of the late Soviet leader and longtime KGB chief's birth.

Shortly after he became Russia's president in 2000, Putin saw to it that a plaque honoring Andropov was placed on the Moscow building where he once lived.

And to mark the 90th anniversary of Andropov's birth in June 2004, Putin arranged for a 10-foot statue of him erected in the suburb of Petrozavodsk, north of St. Petersburg.

Andropov died 25 years ago today, on February 9, 1984, after ruling the Soviet Union for just 15 months. His spirit, however, is very much alive in the current Russian elite. In fact, few former Kremlin leaders are more relevant to understanding today's Russia.

Before his brief tenure in the Kremlin, Andropov was the longest serving KGB chief in Soviet history, running the spy agency for 15 years from 1967-82.

In the mid-1970s, when Andropov was at the height of his power in Lubyanka, a group of eager young KGB recruits from Leningrad fell under his influence. Among these fresh-faced rookies were Putin and key members of his current inner circle: National Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, military procurement chief Viktor Cherkesov, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, and Federal Antinarcotics Service head Viktor Ivanov.

As KGB chief, Andropov understood that the Soviet economy was falling dangerously behind the West and needed to be reformed if the country was to remain a superpower. What he had in mind, however, was not a repeat of Nikita Krushchev's thaw. And he certainly wasn't interested in the wholesale political reforms that Mikhail Gorbachev would eventually pursue.

Andropov wanted to introduce limited market mechanisms to make the Soviet economy more competitive with the West. But his plans for an authoritarian modernization left little room for any inkling of democracy or pluralism. Instead, the political system would remain tightly controlled, with the KGB taking a leading role.

This is how Olga Kryshtanovskaya, head of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute for Elite Studies described Andropov's vision in a 2007 interview:

Andropov thought that the Communist Party had to keep power in its hands and to conduct an economic liberalization. This was the path China followed. For people in the security services, China is the ideal model. They see this as the correct course. They think that [former Russian President Boris] Yeltsin went along the wrong path, as did Gorbachev.

Kryshtanovskaya added that Putin and his protégés thought Andropov "was simply a genius, that he was a very strong person who, if he had lived, would have made the correct reforms."

Putin and Co. eventually got their chance to implement their hero's vision, of course. And for awhile things seemed to be going along just swimmingly as pundits swooned about Russia Inc. and the Putin economic miracle.

The party only lasted until world oil prices tanked late last year and exposed the weakness at the heart of the system -- that the Russian economy is dangerously dependent on energy and commodities prices, just as the Soviet economy was in Andropov's time.

And the reason for this today is the same as it was 25 years ago: diversifying and decentralizing the Russian economy would create an independent business class, which in turn would lead to a more pluralistic and decentralized political system.

Comments

by: Tom

February 11, 2009 23:38

Very astute obserations about the Russian economic model, only problem I have is the potrayal of Mikhail Khodorkovsky as a victim. He was a man who was selling out his own country to certain London based banking oligarchs for personal profit, thats called a traitor in any mans language.Sadly we have way to many of those same globalist internationalist quislings in our own country, Henry Kissinger, John McCain, George Bush and Barrack Hussien Obama. Traitors all.

by: Anonymous

February 12, 2009 20:37

I Thinking the description of the Chinese economy is wrong here. It is right... Moscow would copy with pleasure China in many points, and, the &quot;free&quot; competition in China &quot;too&quot;.There is free competition at smaller and middle level in China and You do not feel corruption at all...thats the way Moscow want to go but supercorruption in the country is the main problem for creating Money in smaller and middle level.

by: La Russophobe from: USA

February 13, 2009 20:54

&quot;And the reason for this today is the same as it was 25 years ago: diversifying and decentralizing the Russian economy would create an independent business class, which in turn would lead to a more pluralistic and decentralized political system.&quot;<br /><br />That is the fundmanental truth about Russia today, and the world will not get the Kremlin right until it understands tha truth.<br /><br />Equally, it's not in the Kremlin's interests to have a healthy or long-lived population. A sick and worried group of people is much easier to bully, especiallyh when you control all media outlets.<br /><br />In other words, the interest of the Kremlin and of the people of Russia and Russia itself are diametically opposed. Until the people of Russia realize that, they will continue on their pathway to destruction.

About This Blog

The Power Vertical is a blog written especially for Russia wonks and obsessive Kremlin watchers by Brian Whitmore. It covers emerging and developing trends in Russian politics, shining a spotlight on the high-stakes power struggles, machinations, and clashing interests that shape Kremlin policy today. Check out The Power VerticalFacebookpage or Follow @PowerVertical